AIBU to consider legal action after admitted hospital negligence?

And if you sue, perhaps it will stop another family losing their loved one

this is not about morals, this is about righting a wrong. Your relative, your family were let down through negligence

the nhs has insurance, specifically for this reason. Nothing changes if the change isn’t forced through action like this

you’re not asking for the rest of the family to do anything, you’re asking for the NHS to take this seriously and fix it

they won’t fix anything unless forced to do so

Do you think the deceased person, ( unclear how you are related to him or her), would want you to do this ? If you're unsure I don't think you should do it. It's obviously going to cause a lot of ill feeling with other family members. I just don't think you will feel it was the right thing to do in the end.

If a trust accepts care played a role in death and you are in England there will be an inquest process. That will look at care and any changes needed to prevent the same in the future.

Hospital investigation reports often accept failings, it is a requirement of them. They sometimes accept that the failing caused or contributed to harm of a person.

I have never seen a letter admitting civil liability outside of a claim having been issued.

Is it a PSII/PSERF investigation?

No one can tell you what to do but in England the coronial system would answer many of your questions.

I could never sue the NHS, my payback would be assurances that changes were set in place, not just talked about but actually enforced.

I am sorry about the loss of your relative. The likelihood of a significant payout probably partly depends upon whether your relative had any financial dependents. The UK doesn’t really do emotional pain and suffering for relatives payouts. Of course, you could still pursue it, as long as you went into it realistically. My grandma’s death was almost certainly significantly related to NHS negligence, though not I think gross negligence. And to add insult to injury they issued the death certificate, when there were various factors that should have meant a referral to the coroner. I did raise this with the rest of the family, but the consensus between her closest relatives was that she would have hated it if anyone had made a fuss. So we didn’t. I think it is important for the family to come to a consensus. I hope you find the best way forward for you and your relative’s other loved ones.

But the 'board' or whatever will still come under scrutiny. Just because the payout doesn't come from that money (and that's good) the fallout from the insurance company needing to payout will still force more change than letting the issue quietly disappear.

I would agree that getting them where it hurts - in the wallet - is the best way to force process change in NHS.

Otherwise things are quietly swept under the carpet.

The money for any given medical negligence pay out does not come from the trust. The NHS is insured for situation like this. I was awarded a payout about 10 years ago when mistakes were made with my care.

It's terrible when patients suffer from deliberate harm or incompetence but maybe suing for money is only appropriate if it's paid directly to the patient or their dependents for future care. I'd rather see the incompetent and often deceitful staff lose their jobs.

You don't have to respond to me, I'm just offering some information that might help you.

Medical negligence solicitors are currently really busy, as people try to sue for anything.

Your best chance to get them to take on your case is if there is a clear case of negligence, AND the person who died left dependents behind (i.e. there is financial need brought about by their not being here anymore).

An elderly person with fully grown adult children will not be taken on as a case.

It's all about the money, unfortunately.

My mum died as a result of hospital negligence at 76 - they did their own investigation after her (unexpected) death during chemo and found a catalogue of mistakes that lead to her death.

I was advised by a number of solicitors that as I suffered no financial loss (I was not a financial dependent) that any claim would be unsuccessful - there could possibly be a case to cover funeral expenses but that was it. In UK law there is no way to sue for this sort of thing unless you have suffered 'material' loss.

Sorry about your relative op. It's spectacularly shit x

Friend has just won a. Huge case against the nhs. They missed sepsis which sent her into heart failure which she’ll need a transplant.

it took years. Emotionally broken. Yes she’s now got no money worries ever. But……was it worth it?

What would you do with the money if you did sue.

An option would be for you to speak to a solicitor to get a bit more information about the process and the time frame for making a claim - for personal injury I think 3 years?
It may be that the other relatives will change their view over time and you could hold off for a while.
I’m so sorry:-(

Out of curiosity and no judgement I am genuinely curious, how would a pay out give any justice to a family grieving a loved one? They will still be grieving, no money is going to bring that person back, nobody will be any less devastated over the loss with extra money in the bank, where is the justice in money in this situation?

The question of morals is a tricky one. I’d say in the interest of justice yes I would sue, because my loved one should still be here and people will suffer their loss.

There should be mechanisms to prevent any recurrence, so suing shouldn’t be the only means to achieve that but it may be the most effective.

I would weigh up the ongoing distress that might be caused by revisiting this through the legal process, and any impact on family relationships along with the time it will take for you to pursue it. If you have it in you to fight it, then I would.

If there are lessons to learn, they have been. The NHS loves to shame their staff and then look away.
Any money comes from the litigation fund and has no effect on lesson learning, it will just make you richer.
And it really does belong to the deceased's estate morally.

This is what I was going to point out too. Admitting mistakes were made and that there were failings in care is not at all the same as admitting actual medical negligence.

Exactly

admitting mistakes
is categorically NOT an admission of negligence

Did the nhs open the investigation because it had life tidied possible negligence itself? Or did you / family report and then investigation progress from there?

If you don't need the money and you have concerns about the Trust spending their budget on payoffs rather than on improving care, then the fact that they admitted liability already (hopefully) means that they put processes in place to make sure the incident is not repeated.
If your "morally right" question refers to how the rest of your family feels, then your opinion is just as important as theirs. They don't need to be involved of they don't want to. You can split the money between them and they can refuse it when the time comes. In which case, you can make a decision of whether to spend it on a new house, donate to a charity or even back to the Trust.

not sure that’s quite the same as admitting negligence. Can you afford to lose more than you might gain?

Who told you that this is the best way to change things? I’d assume a solicitor who has some skin in the game, a no win no fee potentially?

You can ask for a formal patient safety investigation, can request an investigation report, if you truly are only concerned about this not happening to any other families then as well as the hospitals reviews you could involve the CQC and ICB.

I wouldn’t storm ahead with suing if it is not what all relevant parties want- it sounds like as a family you have been through enough without adding more stress and upset if it is not a unanimous decision. There are other ways to exact change without dragging a grieving family through the gory details.